Dragon start hot, thump Bluestone

SoVaNow.com / December 05, 2012

The Park View Dragons won a resounding victory over their cross-county rivals, the Bluestone Barons, as a new high school basketball season opened last week.

Park View had a busy week, competing in the inaugural Bill Littlepage Tipoff Tournament in Hopewell and finishing third with a 59-44 victory over Chesterfield Community High School on Wednesday. The Dragons were forced to rally from a 15-6 first quarter deficit, but behind Kaleb Johnson’s 21 points they poured it on the rest of the way to outpace CCHS.

Hopewell High School, the host team, won the tip-off crown Wednesday on the same night the Dragons captured the consolation game.

The Dragons then turned around and played again Friday night against their county rivals, the Barons, in Skipwith. And the momentum coming out of the Hopewell tournament seemed to pay off as Park View jumped out to a 21-14 first quarter lead and never looked back en route to a 75-59 win.

The Dragons got a pair of three-point buckets by James Brown and six more points from senior guard Dagarius Smith — four on free throws — to pull out in front of Bluestone in the first period.

The Barons countered with Aaron Watson posting four points in the frame and Marcus Tucker and Devin Roberts chipping in three points each.

The Dragons kept up the pressure in the second quarter, tallying 16 points to 14 for Bluestone. Park View distributed the scoring load with Brown adding four points and Kaleb Johnson five. Bluestone’s Roberts scored four points in the quarter to pace the host Barons.

Park View led at halftime, 37-27.

The Dragons put the game away with a dominant third quarter, outscoring Bluestone 25-12. True to form, Park View got contributions across the lineup, with Smith scoring five points, Brown and Travon Previture four apiece and Nigel Stanley and Noo Noo Patterson chipping in three each. Watson led Bluestone scorers in the frame with four points.

Down 62-41 to start the fourth quarter, the Barons outscored the Dragons 18-13 in the final period to make the final 75-59.

Three Park View players placed in double digits with Dagarius Smith leading all scorers with 20 points followed by Brown with 16 and Johnson with 14. Previture and Patterson both scored six points and Dionte Williams added four.

Bluestone was led by Watson with 19 points, Roberts with 12 and Dashawn Pamplin with eight.

With the win, Park View improved to 3-1 to start the season while the Barons evened their record at 1-1. In their season opener on Wednesday, the Barons defeated the Greensville Eagles, 79-68, in Skipwith.